Yeah it's hard to defend him on Katrinia when he gives them the "I take responsibility" sound bite.
It was so obvious who the idiots were, and it was easy for people like us to cite that information and send a lib running with his tail between his legs.
But no matter how much you defend him, and how well you do it, it's defused when the President caves.
Big time cave-in and it's been downhill ever since.